Time To Rejoice: Marking 50 Years Of Youth Cultural Performance And Leadership

Smiles, emotion, cultural pride and togetherness….the six stages of Polyfest 2025 are dazzling again as Auckland students, their schools and wider communities participate at the biggest festival of its kind in the world now in its fiftieth year.

Also feeling a strong sense of history is Foundation North, the community trust for Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Tokerau, whose support for Polyfest started in 2010 when the Polyfest Trust Board had just formed. The Foundation has contributed every year since, totaling over $1.9m of grant funding over fifteen years.

Audry McLaren, Foundation North’s Head of Funding said “We are excited to join The Polyfest Trust celebrating this 50th anniversary milestone. We share the vision for thriving tamariki, rangatahi and whānau, improved equity and wellbeing as Māori and Pacific people, and the strengthening of connections to both language and culture through movement, music and song, the spoken word and leadership.”

2024 saw 75,000 people flock to Manukau Sports Bowl over the four-days of competition, and over two million views of the livestream. In 2025 more records are set to be broken as half a century of traditional dance, costume, music and speech is celebrated.

The festival and 50th anniversary Gala event are centered on the theme of Legacy: legacy that honours where the festival has come from and how it has flourished, acknowledges the resilience required from the wider Polyfest village to push through tragic events and COVID lockdowns, and now a time to glam up and party with the “Best of the Best”.

Festival Director, Seiuli Terri Leo-Mauu said “For our 50th Anniversary, it is fitting that we partner with Foundation North. ASB Polyfest is a legacy, a treasure that was created by our Māori, Pacific and diverse communities in Auckland for the next generation”.

On Monday, the Due Drop Event Centre in Manukau City will host the first ever Polyfest Gala Night – a seated dinner and live performances from stage winners and a who’s who of New Zealand Pacific and Māori music. The Gala’s 700 guests (families, performers and sponsors) will also enjoy the launch of Polyfest’s 50th anniversary book and a glittering awards ceremony honouring original pioneers and lifetime achievements – the Polyfest Hall of Fame.

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